Dr. Gabriel Ajibola Aina is a preacher, a teacher and ordained minister with the Gospel Faith Mission International (GOFAMINT), where he has served in various capacities. In this interview with Abiodun Alade, the former District Pastor of Akowonjo who was last week installed as the new District Pastor of Amuwo, speaks on his journey, the Christian faith, President Jonathan’s re-election bid and insurgency in the country among others.
Excerpts:
Journey
The summary of the journey is that God has been faithful. When God calls a man, there are promises and expectations. There are also challenges that will make it seem that the promises and expectations will not come to pass, but in the end, there are always reasons to say God you are faithful.
There were mixed feelings from my family about my intention to be a gospel minister. It was a welcome idea by my mother who said God had told her earlier that I will be His prophet but some other members were not comfortable, especially my siblings, there was one of them who said I should not allow the devil to deceive me; to him, the call to the ministry was a deception.
Challenges
Pastor Gabriel Aina
There is the challenge of meeting people with different background, culture and ideology. These are people ready to do anything for you but when you tell them the truth of the gospel, the counsel of God, some of them feel offended. I have met a number of people like that but I find comfort in the word of God that says “have I now become your enemy because I am telling you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16)
There are also financial challenges which sometimes hinder meeting the expectations set. There were also time of spiritual attack but God has always proven himself to be forever faithful.
Christian Faith
We have many people who profess to be Christians, by that they attend churches, they engage in activities in the church such as singing, praying, holding convention, giving among others but when it comes to embracing the requirements of discipleship-who are actually the real followers of Jesus Christ, learners at His feet with the intention of becoming like the Master, we have very few. That is the major challenge of the church of today.
Let us live by what we profess, act out what we read, teach and preach because the Christian message is becoming ineffective as unbelievers are becoming more sceptical, even, as some of them are keeping records of the ills of those who profess the Christian faith. Recently, I had an encounter with a person who told me that his boss at his place of work will be friendly with you until you mention anything about Christianity or the church. He told me that the man has a record where he is filing the errors of the church as reported in the dailies. He has records of errors such as the Christian broken homes, pastors who stole, ritual killings in the church etc. If we live by our message, God will support the church and the unbelievers will bow to the gospel of God.
Family and the youth
There will be priority for family in my message and activities as the district pastor f Amuwo. I have discovered that many activities in the church that fail to carry the family along do not have lasting impact. For instance, there are couples who come to church, praying and singing together but at home, they are at war – not praying, eating together, and thus becoming a spiritual stumbling block to the church because on the account of such family, prayers will not be answered.
It is my intention to be involved in aggressive evangelism and soul-winning, especially now that an area has been carved out from the old Amuwo district.
There will be attention to the youths as the leaders of tomorrow. The issue of the youth been unprepared or unfit for leadership is not the fault of the youth themselves in most cases but the parents.If what ought to be done by the family has been done, we will have qualified youths to take over. I must point out that we have a number of well prepared and qualified youths but the number is not enough. I hope by doing this, we can increase the population of members in the district, raise men and women to become active in the work of God.
Religious leaders and political leaders’ relationship
Religious leaders are expected to be fathers and prophets to the political leaders, declaring to them the mind of God, giving them direction and rebuking them when they err, doing it fearlessly. It should be the duty of the religious leaders to lead the church to pray earnestly for the peace and prosperity of the nation that the rule and reign of Christ will be realised through those that govern the state.
Prophesy of bloodbath during 2015 elections
There might have been prophesy of bloodbath in the country during the election but I know that it is not the purpose of God to have bloody election or violence in Nigeria. To have a bloody election in the country means there are people who have the mind of do or die politics, such people should take caution because it is only those who God wills to be there that will be there. If someone runs for an election and loses, he still has the chance of another time. In history there have been people who contested and failed but later on in life, they became what they aspired to be. People aspiring for elective offices must do away with the do or die mentality because if they do not have it this time around, they can have it in another time.
Boko Haram Insurgency
In my opinion, the government should exercise caution in the dealing with the issue of Boko Haram. It should not be treated in isolation; the government must look towards the future. We have experienced the issue of militants in this nation before, the administration of late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua granted them amnesty but today, we have boko haram. If boko haram should have amnesty now, will it put an end to the issue of insurgency in Nigeria or will it give birth to other insurgents? The government should be careful in dealing with boko haram.
Jonathan’s re-election bid
In my opinion, he should check his heart, what is the purpose of seeking re-election? If the purpose is to make Nigeria better, that God has sent him to make Nigeria better, he may go but if there are people who can give what is better than what Jonathan has offered us, he may shelf his ambition for others to contribute their quota because God has been kind to him.
No comments:
Post a Comment